HUMBER’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
VOLUME 62, ISSUE 2
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2020
‘this is a national crisis’ pandemic puts spotlight on toronto’s housing emergency p4
indigenous leaders educate students p4
White Chair protests around the globe p7
humber grad Toronto fashion debut p10
2 - NEWS
HUMBER ET CETERA
NOV 27, 2020
Encampment raids continue in Toronto as affordable housing remains beyond reach Jenn Kozak
NEWS REPORTER
Zacarías Camarra lives in a tent in one of the 14 encampments in Toronto’s downtown core. He’s among the homeless who remain unseen and seemingly uncared for by government. He has been threatened and raided by Toronto bylaw officers numerous times, forcing him to move from encampment to encampment since March. He’s lived at Trinity-Bellwoods Park, in the Queen Street and Strachan Avenue area of west Toronto, for 57 days now, most likely facing another eviction with nowhere to go. Toronto bylaws say no person shall live, camp or lodge in a park unless authorized by a permit. But advocates like the Encampment Support Network (ESN) asked for Toronto’s anti-camping bylaw to be halted during the pandemic. Toronto City Council invested $10.6 million in 400 new beds in shelters to help the homeless, but advocates argue that what is being offered to people at facilities like the Better Living Centre is “not a better life.” Camarra, among those whom shelters were provided for, agrees. “I don’t feel safe in the shelter,” Camarra said. “My health is no good, and folks like me don’t survive viruses. The only place I feel safe right now is my tent. This is my home.” Camarra said he makes sure his tent is near a street so people can keep an eye out for him in case something happens. “If I go panhandle, I ask one of my friends to keep an eye on my tent,” he said. “My tent is raided at least twice a week. This is the only
stuff I got, ya know. I don’t have the money to buy more stuff. “I had a photo of my daughter they destroyed, ain’t never going to get that back,” Camarra said. The Better Living Centre, located on the Exhibition grounds downtown, opened its doors on Nov. 7 with 100 new beds placed in an L-shaped plexiglass room. Some homeless people didn’t feel safe due to overcrowding and lack of privacy. “Imagine offering a human being a cage-like place to sleep with eyes on you 24/7,” Cathy Crowe, a Toronto street nurse, said. “This kind of institutionalization only harms homeless people as they already lack privacy on the streets. They need privacy and their own room with a door. “For someone to pick sleeping in a tent during frigid temperatures over living at a shelter, it speaks in high volumes,” she said. Crowe has been a longtime advocate for better housing conditions for homeless people and believes all government levels need to come together to combat the housing crisis. “There is so much emphasis on condominiums and homeownership, but none on functional housing programs to help those most vulnerable,” she said. “It is estimated that 130,000 Torontonians may be at risk of becoming homeless because of the economic crisis.” Crowe said housing is too expensive and people are struggling to afford to live in Toronto. “We need all levels of government to come together on this. This is a national crisis,” she said. Programs like the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit
Humber Et Cetera is the Humber College journalism program laboratory newspaper. It is created by second and third year journalism students. Et Cetera serves to inform the Humber community and give its readers well rounded coverage on the things that matter to them. @humberetc etc.humber@gmail.com humberetc.ca
JENN KOZAK
Zacarías Camarra lives in an encamptment in Trinty Bellwoods Park. Camarra said that he does not feel safe going to a shelter.
were implemented by the federal government to support Canadians financially during the pandemic, but not everyone was able to benefit. Mike Smith, 65, lost his home in March 2020 as the outbreak of COVID-19 led to him losing his job. With his wife’s sudden death and no savings to keep him afloat, Smith’s only option was to pitch his tent and join eight other people at his encampment. “I applied for EI, CERB, and OW. You name it,” Smith said. “I didn’t qualify for nothing. “When I lost my wife, I lost myself,” he said. “I come to this corner (Yorkville and Bay Streets) every day, hoping to get a warm meal. People are nice. They smile at me, which makes me very happy. “The ones that don’t, I get it. We all have things we’re going through,” Smith said. Smith hopes governments will
JENN KOZAK
Mike Smith, 65, lost his job and home after the outbreak of COVID-19. Since March, he has been sitting on the corner of Yorkville and Bay streets in downtown Toronto.
soon provide affordable housing available to individuals like himself. “I miss my balcony and hanging my plants up. I used to
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jared Dodds
FACULTY ADVISER Rob Lamberti
EDITORS Pablo Balza Francis Commey Kyle Drinnan Nathaniel Marksman Jayvon Mitchum
CREATIVE ADVISER Marlee Greig FRONT PAGE PHOTO: Jenn Kozak
have fresh tomatoes and peppers all the time,” he said. “I miss just watching TV and eating a bag of chips. I hope one day, I can have a home again.”
© 2020 All rights reserved Humber Et Cetera is a publication of the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at Humber Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning 205 Humber College Blvd., Etobicoke, ON, M9W 5L7
NOV 27, 2020
HUMBER ET CETERA
NEWS - 3
Humber encouraged to build transgender ‘communities of care’ Melike Hilal Gumus Eli Ridder NEWS REPORTER
Transgender pride is a form of resistance that needs to go beyond social media and mass protests to become “communities of care,” career coach, healer and educator Joan Rupram told students during Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. Humber and Seneca hosted the combined event on Zoom attended by more than 60 students and staff to mark the struggles of non-binary, non-conforming and two-spirit people. Rupram, the keynote speaker, led students through a 45-minute ritual on what it meant to be transgender and how to support others that identify as LGBTQ+. The ceremony takes place on Nov. 20 of every year was started after the death of Rita Hester, a transgender woman murdered in their Boston home in 1998. Transrespect versus Transphobia, a project funded by Transgender Europe (TGEU), reports 350 transgender or gender-diverse persons were murdered around the world between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30. Of those, it stated 98 per cent were transgender women. Transrespect reported 82 per cent of murdered transgender persons were Central and South America and more than three quarters of the 28 killed in the U.S.
KYLE DRINNAN
From left Andrea Gunraj, vice president of public engagement of the Canadian Women’s Foundation; Paulette Senior, CEO of CWF, and Hilary Lloyd, vice president of marketing at The Body Shop, launch the #16days campaign against gender-based violence.
#16day campaign highlights link between COVID, spike in gender-based violence Jennifer Kozak NEWS REPORTER
Joan Rupram, a LGBTQ+ activist and speaker at Transgender Day of Rememberance
systemic problem that disproportionately impacts trans woman of colour, trans-sex-workers, trans people living in poverty and trans people who have been incarcerated,” host Matthew Travill said. Rupram shared a prayer and asked the students to join them “to honour all of the trans lives
took short breaks and called everyone to do breathing exercises to calm themselves, relax, and to better understand the importance of the day. “It is my intention today to inspire passionate action in your hearts,” Rupram said. They called everyone who
“So, bring your awareness to your body and bring your awareness to your heart, and listen with your heart intensively”
Joan Rupram
SPEAKER AT HUMBER AND SENECA
were people of colour. “The day is held to not only memorialize those who were killed by transphobic violence but we also want to recognize and honour the trans and gender diverse people,” said Stef Figueiredo, a co-host of the event. Rupram said the oppression of gender identity is tied with colonialism and systemic racism. “I’m calling us into reflection to become self-aware of the colonizer within,” they said. “The death of trans people is a
we have lost, to honour the names we will never be able to say at our times, to honour the bodies whose beauty we may never know, to honour the wisdom and presence of trans warriors who we may never feel.” They also shared a poem with the attendees they wrote for the importance of trans lives. “So, bring your awareness to your body and bring your awareness to your heart, and listen with your heart intensively,” Rupram said. Throughout the event, they
attended the event as a leader that can make changes, “build intentional communities that erupt and disrupt white supremacy.” “I will self-determine, this body is mine,” Rupram said, giving advice for everyone to keep in mind. They addressed the issue of femininity and masculinity being incorrectly attached to certain body types based on heteronormal stereotypes. “I’m calling you into self-reflection,” Rupram said.
In past years on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, demonstrators would fill the streets demanding action to reduce and end gender-based violence. With a global pandemic, the Canadian Women’s Foundation traded in rally banners for keyboards to host an online virtual event on Nov. 25 and kick off a 16-day campaign. Gender-based violence differs from other forms of violence because “it is very difficult to run away and there are many barriers of control, shame, and judgment placed on the women,” CWF President Paulette Senior said. Andrea Gunraj, the foundation’s vice-president of public engagement, said, Canada requires a better action plan to help intervene to stop violence against women and offer a more robust follow-up plan to support women. “We need an emergency level action plan,” Gunraj said. “Every six days, a woman is killed. That is way too high. We need a highlevel action plan to prevent this.” The federal government contributed $100 million in emergency funding to organizations on Nov. 25 that provides support and services to people experiencing and escaping gender-based violence across Canada. “We are committed to ending gender-based violence and to build a future in which everyone has a real and fair chance at success,” Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau said. “We thank the survivors, women’s rights advocates, and community organizations for their exceptional courage,” he said. “We would also like to thank front-line workers who, during the COVID-19 global pandemic, have ensured that victims and survivors of violence continue to receive the support and services that they need.” Even before the pandemic, a woman was killed by her intimate partner every six days across Canada. Since lockdowns and quarantines have been instituted to control the spread of the virus, domestic violence and calls to crisis lines have increased. Women, girls, and trans and non-binary people face a higher risk of violence at home with COVID-19 isolation restrictions. The CWF’s virtual event attracted 100 viewers who had the opportunity afterwards to ask questions and seek advice on how to push for national action on the issue. The Body Shop Canada is supporting the campaign with a “Come Together, Act Together” gift line that will donate a dollar of every sale to the Canadian Women’s Foundation. Hilary Lloyd, the company’s vice-president of marketing, said all proceeds will go to “Out of Violence” programs that provide support for women who want to flee abusive partners. By using the #16days hashtag, Canadians on any social media platform can help bring awareness to the campaign against gender-based violence.
4 - NEWS
HUMBER ET CETERA
NOV 27, 2020
HARMONY MULTANI
Hélène Kelly (right) and Jette Erikson of the Denmark Uganda Vietnam Exchange lead an art workshop at Arua Hill Primary School in Uganda. The Humber journalism grads spent a week documenting the project.
Grads work on project to end violence against children Below is the report filed earlier this year by Lucy Lau and Harmony Multani of their trip to Uganda. The graduates of Humber’s PostGraduate Certificate course travelled to Africa and followed for a week researchers and medical practitioners with the Denmark Uganda Vietnam Exchange (DUVE) in their quest to eliminate violence against children. The reporters’ 12-minute documentary, Pearl Under Pressure: The Impact of Violence Against Children in Uganda, was submitted to the Los Angeles Lift Off Film Festival in the New Voices Shorts 1 category in October.
Lucy Lau Harmony Multani SENIOR REPORTERS
An issue as complex and farreaching as violence against children demands a solution that’s just as expansive. It’s why Jaspreet Bal, a child and youth care professor at Humber College, was so drawn to the Denmark Uganda Vietnam Exchange (DUVE), an international project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union that aims to end violence against children. “Any opportunity to be a part of a collaborative conversation that looks at ending violence [against children], I’m there for it,” Bal said.
“I also am very specifically interested in how things without context — text without context — meets context,” she said. “So if you have a universal idea, like ‘Let’s have children’s rights’ or ‘Let’s end violence [against children],’ what happens to that idea when it hits the ground?” Bal is one of dozens of educators and healthcare workers around the world who joined forces under DUVE in 2018 to uncover just that: What is the most effective way to end violence against children globally? She concedes the goal of DUVE is a “lofty” but worthy one, considering child abuse is so pervasive — and problematic — the United Nations set a target to end all violence against children by 2030 as part of its Sustainable Development Goals, a list of 17 goals adopted by all 193 UN member states in 2015 that serve as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” Indeed, the World Health Organization estimates up to one billion children aged two to 17 have experienced some form of physical, sexual or emotional violence or neglect in the past year. These may include instances of maltreatment, bullying or cyberbullying, domestic assault, non-consensual completed or attempted sexual contact and psychological violence, WHO said. In a landmark 2013 report that draws on data from 190 countries,
the UN noted violence against children is “ever-present” and is experienced by kids “from all walks of life around the world.” This abuse takes place in many settings, including at home, in schools and in the community, and has a wide range of perpetrators, including family members, teachers, neighbours and strangers, the report said. In addition, violence against children has short- and long-term consequences for both victims and society at large. Children who are subject to violence face harm, pain, humiliation and even death, the report said. They may also experience developmental issues or difficulties learning in school, and suffer from low self-esteem and depression. Children who are subject to or who witness violence are also more likely to internalize this behaviour, leading them to repeat such patterns of abuse against their own partners and children in the future, the report said. “Children that are raised in a violent way are sometimes the people that are violent as adults … it goes in a ring,” said Hélène Kelly, project manager of DUVE and an international consultant at Denmark’s University College Absalon. Making the issue even more complex is the fact that violence against children goes largely un-
documented and underreported. This is because some forms of violence against children are socially accepted or condoned and some victims may be too young or vulnerable to disclose their experiences, the UN said. Violence against children is also experienced differently in different countries. In Uganda, one of three countries where DUVE has chosen to focus its efforts, child abuse happens in the form of corporal punishment at schools and maltreatment at home, a 2018 household survey conducted by the UN and the Government of Uganda found. Child labour and child marriage, which children from impoverished families are often subject to, are also common forms of violence against children in Uganda, the survey said. This violence is a result of the normalization of child abuse at institutions like homes and schools, where violence against children is often seen as an act of love or as an appropriate form of discipline, the survey said. Other factors, such as the expectation Ugandan children remain submissive to their elders and an influx of refugees to the country who are grappling with their own experiences of violence and trauma, contribute to Uganda’s rate of childhood abuse, too. In Canada, violence against children is more insidious, rooted in
systemic racism and affects Indigenous and Black children at disproportionately high rates, Bal said. “Looking at violence against children [in Canada] requires understanding the context of colonialism, genocide, slavery and anti-Black racism — and giving up the idea that we are this peaceful country that doesn’t have problems,” she said. Bal points to a 2012 report by the UN Committee on the Rights of a Child, which noted Indigenous and African-Canadian children are overrepresented in Canada’s criminal justice system and out-of-home care. Indigenous and Black children also receive less financial resources than other children in the child welfare system, the report said. These groups experience higher high-school dropout rates and “inappropriate and excessive” use of disciplinary measures in the education system, leading to suspensions, referrals to police and their overrepresentation in alternative schools. Indigenous children also experience higher suicide rates, and Indigenous women and girls are particularly vulnerable to abuse, the report said. The report urged the Government of Canada to take steps to alleviate the high levels of violence and discrimination experienced by Indigenous and Black children, while ensuring they receive adequate support and services.
NOV 27, 2020
HUMBER ET CETERA
NEWS - 5
Doctor advocates for new mental standard for students Eli Ridder
NEWS REPORTER
A Nova Scotia doctor is raising awareness for a new mental health standard for post-secondary campuses across the country as recent studies point to a desperate situation for students amid seismic shifts to their livelihoods. Dr. Elizabeth Cawley recently led the effort to produce the new National Standard for the Mental Health and Well-Being of Postsecondary Students, an effort to standardize a more holistic, higher level of care across the country. Cawley said colleges and universities traditionally have focused on counselling centres to deal with mental health on campus, but the standard goes further. “Mental health and well being of students is really something for the entire campus community to focus on, whether that’s faculty or staff or learning in the classroom,” she said. The report was followed by a survey from the Ontario Confederation of University Facility Associations that indicated more than 60 per cent of students felt moving to online learning had a negative impact on their education. The study of 502 Canadian university students and 2,208 faculty and librarians between Oct. 16 and Nov. 6 showed 55 per cent said they are concerned about their mental health due to the same changes.
Cawley said provincial governments can leverage parts of their budgets to back efforts to make mental healthcare more equitable. “Everybody has different resources and different abilities to offer various mental health services on campus but if government can intervene, or develop programming to make it more equitable, I think that that would make a really big difference,” she said. Post-secondary opposition critic Chris Glover made it clear the Ontario New Democrats support a national mental health strategy, calling it “absolutely essential,” but emphasized the need to also tackle the financial burden that comes with being a student. “One of the factors that’s feeding the mental health crisis on campus is the incredible stress level that students face because of the cost of education,” Glover said. “If we want to improve student mental health, the first step would be to relieve the financial pressure on students.” The OCUFA’s report said 53 per cent of students surveyed were concerned about their financial situation because of COVID-19. Humber News reached out to the provincial government’s post-secondary education minister Ross Romano for an interview but was referred to the ministry, which did not reply. Cawley described the standard as an important first step in helping campus administrations tackle mental health care through policies, programs, and processes.
She said a big part of the plan is the inclusion of the Stepped Care 2.0 care model, a format of “multiple different levels of intensities of support.” “You need to have these various levels of support so that people can find what’s right for them it really empowers somebody to pick the approach or the modality that they want to engage with,” Cawley said. As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic brought an end to social activities and the engagement normally associated with school, the research found the impact on students was particularly negative. A study published in Canadian Psychology in September found participants who had no history of mental health concerns reported greater psychological distress during the lockdowns with increased isolation leading to higher levels of depression. The study surveyed 800 University of Toronto students in May 2019 and May 2020 to give an indication of the impact of the pandemic restrictions, one of the report’s authors told the Canadian Press. Denis Shwaloff, a second-year Humber student, said he misses being around people and that it is taking a toll on his mental health. “After a few months of quarantine I’ve started to feel even worse, at times just lying in bed for days and eating junk food cause I didn’t feel like anything,” Shwaloff said. But support from the province, he said, could help.
COURTESY ELIZABETH CAWLEY
Dr. Elizabeth Cawley is overseeing the creation of a national standard for delivering mental health care to college and university students in Canada.
“I’ve read that during this pandemic suicide rates have skyrocketed, so a greater push for more mental health support and openness to mental health issues is quite needed,” Shwaloff said. “I feel like people don’t realize that mental health is as important as physical health.”
Indigenous Knowledge Gathering shows students how ‘we’re all connected’ Hannah Clarke NEWS REPORTER
Humber’s Indigenous Education and Engagement department held its annual knowledge gatherings over the past week, live streaming them on both Zoom and Facebook, telling stories of how the past can fix problems today. The event opened with a presentation on Nov. 16 of “The Dish With One Spoon” by Rick Hill and Dan Longboat. Hill, from the Beaver Clan of the Tuscarora Nation, and Longboat, from the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Territory, say the focus of The Dish was on how humanity should treat nature for our own well-being and sustainability. “If you think of the earth as kind of a mound, and you turn the mound over, what’s inside there?” Hill asked. “In Dish, it holds all that
stuff we need to sustain ourselves.” The rules for The Dish include taking what only is needed, saving some for others, and keeping the dish clean, simply because it’s not known what or how much will be needed in the future, especially during this year with the pandemic. “The knowledge that you’re gaining and the things that you’re listening to are a really unique opportunity,” said Longboat, a professor at the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University. “It’s that mental and ‘heart knowledge’ that when they conjoin, that’s the real meaning of truth.” Hill, an Indigenous Innovations Specialist at Mohawk College, said the concept of The Dish can teach people a lot about the future, and how society approaches it. “We as human beings are the only thing that has the opportu-
HANNAH CLARKE
Dan Longboat, from the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Territory, holds up a wampum belt during a presentation at Humber’s Indigenous Knowledge Gathering on Nov. 16. Longboat is a faculty member at Trent University’s Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies.
nity for free will,” Longboat said. The event’s keynote presented on Nov. 18 by Shayla Oulette Stonechild and Sunshine Quem Tenasco was titled Indigenous Matriarchs Rising. Stonechild, a Plains Cree woman from Muscowpetung First Nations, leads the Matriarch Movement, which focuses on empowering Indigenous women as well as focusing attention on the crisis of missing and mur-
dered aboriginal women. “When we look at ‘Matriarchs Rising’, we have to look at our creation stories,” Stonechild said. “Our creation stories weave into our individual stories. You can’t have one over the other.” Tenasco is Anishnabe and founder of Her Braids, which helps Indigenous communities fight for clean water, as well as Pow Wow Pitch, which raises awareness and supports Indige-
nous women entrepreneurs. Showcasing Indigenous culture and teachings is more than just checking a box on a demographic scorecard, said Joshua Seright, a dean of the Indigenous Education and Engagement department at Humber College. It is an opportunity to share wisdom. Longboat agreed. “As human beings, we are all Indigenous,” he said. “We’re all connected.”
6 - NEWS
HUMBER ET CETERA
NOV 27, 2020
INTERNATIONAL
Rio teachers, students returning to classrooms Anna Beatriz De Santanna NEWS REPORTER
RIO DE JANEIRO — Public education professors in Rio de Janeiro are on the way back to the classroom, even as the city approaches 140,000 COVID-19 cases. Initially, professors returned without students to help prepare. Only students in important years, such as ninth grade and the senior year, returned to class. “Since they are older and more mature we will not be concerned about always reminding them to respect the measures,” Khezya Barreto, a ninth-grade professor, said. “We will be able to develop a little bit of the content they need.” In Barreto’s school, they have 10 students separated in the classroom. Each student received three masks, water bottles (water fountains are not allowed), hand sanitizer, and an emergency snack
REUTERS/PILAR OLIVARES
A teacher gives lessons to students at Aplicacao Carioca Coelho Neto municipal school as some schools continue with the gradual reopening, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil November 24, 2020.
instead of lunch in the cafeteria. For Mari Angela Molina, an education coordinator at Escola Municipal Roquete Pinto, a school in Rio de Janeiro for pre-school students to third grade has only allowed the return of professors, and being back in class is worrying.
“I think it’s premature, especially since we have the return of the growth in the number of cases of COVID,” Molina said. She is uncomfortable with the return because all employees, including her, have a life outside of work in which they may be
exposing themselves to the virus, considering “a trip to the market can be a risk.” “You view your co-worker and employees as people very close to you. This often takes me out of focus, because I have to distance myself from them and I end up
getting too close,” Molina said. There is also a concern the younger students will not have the self-control of older students, potentially touching or sharing objects and bring the virus home to relatives, teachers, or staff. Professors received PPE, but it is not enough. Molina’s co-worker, Sandra Elena Reis, has more reasons to be uncomfortable with the return. She is part of the risk group and would have direct contact with kids since she is a teacher. “I’m in the risk group twice, I’m 60 years old and I’m diabetic, from what I see, no school has the infrastructure,” Reis said. She said distributing masks and hand sanitizers do not guarantee security, especially because cases are going up again and the return was announced abruptly. “We value life, life first, school year - as they say - we can recover, but a life we cannot,” Reis said.
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine orders weekend shutdowns in COVID-19 battle Natalie Vasyliuk NEWS REPORTER
The Ukrainian government ordered weekend business shutdowns and quarantines throughout the country in a bid to flatten the curve of positive COVID-19 tests. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said numbers were likely to decrease after the first two weeks of the new rules, but if they were not followed, and daily new COVID-19 cases were not brought below 12,000, Ukraine might face another full lockdown. “If the numbers are not changing, we might run out of the hospital beds by the end of the month,” Shmyhal said. All businesses involved in public catering and entertainment were to be closed and no fans or visitors were allowed at sports or cultural events between Nov. 14 and Nov. 30. The measure was greeted with skepticism in many regions. “COVID-19 exists equally on weekends and weekdays,” Yulia Synhaievska, an 18-year-old student, said. “There is no point in shutting everything down just for the weekends since people will
find ways to socialize during the workdays and no one will benefit from it.” Small businesses were expected to suffer most from the new orders. An employee at the Absolut restaurant in Korostyshiv called the government’s decision “nonsense” and questioned the lack of financial support businesses have been provided. Some businesses have continued to operate clandestinely and some regions planned to defy the latest rules. “These rules are unfair,” said 19-year-old Ukrainian Maksym Kalinichenko, a Humber College student. “Law-abiding businesses are losing their income because of the shutdown, while those who work illegally benefit from it.” In Lviv, one of the oldest and most picturesque cities in Ukraine, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said all “malls, fitness centres, shops, cafes, and other businesses are allowed to have customers from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., subject to quarantine regulations.” ‘’People have the right to labour,” Sadovyi said. The Ukrainian government prohib-
REUTERS/VALENTYN OGIRENKO
Restaurant workers protest against the strengthening measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by introducing a lockdown at weekends, outside the government headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine November 11, 2020.
ited local authorities from implementing any changes in quarantine restrictions. But some businesses are likely to shut down completely as a result of the weekend quarantine. Planeta Kino, one of the popular cinema networks, said 80 per cent of its income is made during
weekends. Dmytro Derkach, co-owner of Planeta Kino movie theatres, said on his Facebook account “they will keep working for a week or two and will probably have to close all the cinemas and fire 500 people.” Meanwhile, the government warned if hospitals reach full
occupancy, a full lockdown will be applied across the country. To cushion the impact of quarantine rules, Shmyhal announced support measures including cheap lending, child benefits, and compensation for employees and sole proprietors, which will be taken in the case of a full lockdown.
NOV 27, 2020
HUMBER ET CETERA
NEWS - 7
Toronto joins in global White Chair protests Nur Dogan
NEWS REPORTER
Mustafa Kabakcioglu, a 44-year-old former deputy police chief who spent four years in solitary confinement, died alone on a white plastic chair in Gumushane Prison in August this year. Since then, white chairs have become the symbol of protest for people around the world to draw attention to the more than 126 people who have died suspiciously in Turkish prisons or detention centres. “His head just dropped into the back of the chair, so we used the white chair as a figure,” said Hafza Girdap, the executive director of Advocates of Silenced Turkey and a scholar at Stony Brook University in New York State. Protesters from AST held peaceful White Chair Protests in 22 locations around North America on Nov. 22, including Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, where protesters hung banners featuring Kabakcioglu and other arrested journalists, politicians, and writers. After an alleged attempted coup in 2016, the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on dissenters and arbitrary arrests have increased dramatically, Girdap said. “He was put into that cell because of the claim that he was
exposed to COVID-19,” Girdap said. “However, he tested on the day of his death and was negative.” Kabakcioglu, who suffered from diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure, had written a letter to the prison infirmary two days before his death requesting medical help for symptoms that appeared unassociated with COVID. “Mustafa Kabakcioglu passed away because of the negligence and cruelty in the Turkish prisons,” said Erkam Ak, a University of Toronto student and volunteer of AST. “His case is a very telling story of how an average person persecuted by the regime gets stripped away of all rights and privileges and gets left to die essentially in their chamber,” Ak said. At the Toronto protest, two men sat on the white plastic chairs to symbolically reenact Kabakcioglu’s death in the prison, about 720 kilometres east of Turkey’s capital Ankara. “This kind of protest with meaningful and artful content is the least I can do for people back home,” Ak said. “I am afflicted by a similar injustice that happened to my family in Turkey. “I have attended the demonstration to be part of these people that want to make a statement in places they are living,” she said. Demonstrators read a statement saying the Erdogan regime has
COURTESY ADVOCATES OF SILENCED TURKEY
A white chair with a photo of Mustafa Kabacioglu, 42, who died in a Turkish prison on Aug. 29, sits on a table during a protest at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Nov. 22. It was part of a global push to alert the world about conditions in Turkey’s prisons.
filled prisons with opponents and that thousands of political prisoners have been held despite widespread COVID-19 outbreaks in jails. “We wanted to bring awareness to suspicious deaths and human rights violence in Turkey,”
said Hansa Gunsel, an interior designer in the GTA and a volunteer of AST. “Kabakcioglu’s last moments on the white chair became a representation of many untold stories,” Gunsel said.
Protesters called for an investigation of the deaths and prosecution of responsible officers. Other cities that held a Peaceful White Chair Protest included New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
Ford announces lockdown as AG criticizes Ontario’s response Markos Soares NEWS REPORTER
Premier Doug Ford announced Nov. 20 the province will be going on lockdown for 28 days. It came after a press conference from Ford announcing measures he said he hoped to avoid. “We’ve saved lives, but this virus, it spreads like wildfire,” Ford said at his news conference. “And in certain parts of the province, it’s spreading at an alarming rate in the community.” Bonnie Lysyk, Ontario’s auditor general, agreed the Ford government did well at the beginning of the pandemic but failed to prepare for the second wave. “Ontario would have been much better prepared to address the challenges of COVID-19 had it addressed many of the recommendations in past reports from the
SARS commission, from our office, and from others,” Lysyk said. The report also said public health officials were not the ones leading the province’s response. Ford and his cabinet have denied these statements calling the report inaccurate and said it undermines public health during the pandemic. “Don’t start pretending you’re [Lysyk] a doctor or a health professional because I’ll tell you, you’re not,” he said. Ford is not the only one expressing anger post-shutdown, with business owners like the owner of Adamson Barbeque in Etobicoke refusing to shutdown and opening his doors to the public this week. He has since been arrested and raised over $100,000 on GoFundMe for his legal defence. But people like Diane Soares, a clinical
educator specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children, said this lockdown is not about who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s about sticking together and seeing this through. “I understand the twenties, and the teenagers who think they’re invincible,” Soares said. “Until you’re sick, you don’t really get it, it’s unbelievably hard to control.” Ford made it clear that in-class learning, long-term care homes, and hospitals cannot be put at risk. “To protect our most vulnerable and protect what matters most we have to get the community spread under control,” Ford said at his news conference. Ontario’s government is hoping these measures limit community transmission of COVID-19 in order to keep schools open, safeguard health system capacity, and protect the province’s most vulnerable populations.
In a response to questions by Et Cetera, the Ministry of Health said the province’s fall preparedness plan is underway, and “active work continues with hospitals and other health care organizations on COVID-19 on system monitoring, capacity planning and support.” Ford’s government has set aside up to $283.7 million in support, extending diagnostic imaging hours at health care facilities, and initiating a centralized waitlist and surgical smoothing program. Ontario will also be injecting $351 million for more than 2,250 new beds at 57 hospitals and alternate health facilities across the province. The lockdown will last 28 days, or two COVID-19 incubation periods, after which officials will determine if the public health unit should stay where they are or be moved to a different level.
8 - NEWS
HUMBER ET CETERA
NOV 27, 2020
EDITORIAL
Change never too late but clock ticking on racism in journalism
T
his has been a year of hardships. From a global pandemic to weeks dedicated to anti-black racism protests, 2020 has left a massive impact on the world. The pandemic is a frustrating problem because it can be mitigated with people following public health guidelines — wearing masks, distancing and washing hands — but no matter what our actions are people simply have to wait the virus out. But when it comes to racism and discrimination, there is plenty that can be done to spread awareness and support causes fighting to end racism and discrimination. Racism and racism awareness are not new topics, they are not “imaginary”. But this year, the riots and protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, show people are not oblivious to the simple fact these social injustices are happening every day and the importance of eradicating them.
Humber College’s Faculty of Media and Creative Arts (FMCA) program is doing its best to be part of the solution by putting together different campaigns in pursuit of tackling racism and inequality towards all races that have been discriminated against. The FMCA realize how important it is to stand up against racism in and out of the newsroom, providing a new opportunity for students and faculty to be a part of the Racism in the Newsroom: the Unapologetic Reckoning in Canadian Media seminar hosted to raises awareness towards racism, discrimination, and inequality. “We have made an anti-racism pledge for the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts, and it responds to a call to action from several groups of students and alumni,” Guillermo Acosta, dean of the FMCA program, said. The 128 Humber faculty and students spent a day listening and
LARA KING
Canadian newsrooms, like the Et Cetera office pictured above, should be part of a global conversation about racism in journalism.
learning from speakers who cover a wide variety of fields, including keynote addresses from Canadian television and radio journalist Adrian Harewood and Toronto Star internal ombudsman Shree Paradkar.
The day was long and it was a hard look in the mirror for journalism students. But hard days like this are essential to moving the conversation forward. Late in the seminar, Siyabulela Mandela, great-grandson to the
As the protests and loss of lives over the last month, year, even decade have shown us, the time is now. Other guests included author and journalist Scott Colby, CityNews producer Mahnoor Yawar, and investigative journalist Martha Troian.
former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, weighed in and offered his insight on how to address oppression, racism, and discrimination.
“In the world that we are in there is nothing that is called equality, what is reigning is injustice and our responsibility is to wager a relentless struggle against such injustices,” Mandela said. Seminars like this are a great start. But more needs to be done. Whether it be in newsrooms, business, or classrooms, the need to keep having these conversations and seminars like this needs to become the norm in school systems and workplaces across the country. Canada cannot afford to take another year or two for these conversations to become best practices. As the protests and loss of lives over the last year, month, even decade have shown us, the time is now.
OPINION
Staying positive, connected key to maintaining mental health this holiday
Jayvon Mitchum NEWS EDITOR
T
he year 2020 has changed everything that we know and love, but specifically how we celebrate holidays. The food, the get-togethers, the experiences, the moments spent. All that must come to a halt due to COVID-19. This has impacted the mental wellbeing of people across the world. It’s being acutely felt in
Ontario as it enters its second lockdown of the year and Christmas is less than a month away. The stress of not being able to travel and see the ones you love most could be putting a strain on some. While everyone is vulnerable to an impact on their mental health, younger people appear to be even more at risk. A recent study from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations said 55 per cent of students were concerned about the effect of learning from home will or has had on their mental health. Statistics Canada also said more than 50 per cent of people reported their mental health was in a worse place when the shutdown was in its infancy last May. All of this was before the holidays took place. In 2014, the National Alliance on Mental Ill-
ness reported more than 60 per cent of people who already had mental health issues got worse during the holidays. Those numbers were reported during a normal holiday season, much less one where we have to stay away from family and isolate ourselves. This situation has taken a personal toll on me. Realizing I can’t see my grandparents like I do every year for Christmas is heartbreaking. Multiple thoughts cross my mind, like what if this isn’t solved by next year? What if this just becomes the new normal? There’s a quote that has stuck with me while I’ve been writing this. “It’s okay not to be okay during the holiday season.” I know there are people in the world that are going through the motions right now believing
UNSPLASH/NIK SHULIAHIN
Statistics Canada reported that over 50 per cent of people said their mental health is in a worse place now than it was in May at the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown.
nothing is going their way. You are not alone. There are multiple options that can help you during times like this. Talking to a friend or a family member can help. Even if it’s to say hi, staying connected with them helps. Therapy is also an option, talking to helplines or even therapists over the phone about your problems can help you see that
they’re better things ahead. Making sure to go outside and exercise, focus on spirituality, the list goes on and on, giving everyone the opportunity to find something and use that to go forward. This year may be different for a lot of people during the holidays. Remember, it’s okay to not be okay during the holiday season. Have a positive outlook and realize that things will get better.
NOV 27, 2020
HUMBER ET CETERA
NEWS - 9
TALES FROM HUMBER
Surviving the loss of a best friend Makayla Verbruggen NEWS REPORTER
“Mommy, can we get a puppy! Please, I want a puppy!” “Let me think about it. We can go to the shelter and see what puppies they have. But no promises.” Those sentences changed my life forever. After many trips to the shelter and looking online at so many different sizes, breeds, colours, we finally found a dog we fell in love with. He was a rescue dog, three months old, a foxhound beagle, and the only one in his litter to have velvety brown ears with no black. I was eight. We named him Chase because if he wasn’t sleeping, he was running, and we were chasing him. Over the years, Chase gave us so many laughs. When we enrolled him in an obedience workshop, he was the biggest misfit in the class. He was always getting in trouble and never listened to anyone. But at the end of the workshop, he got a certificate for
being “Most Improved.” We all laughed because he was the most disobedient dog in the class. “They just gave us that because they didn’t want us to come back,” my father said. Improved or not, he was part of the family. When we went to the cottage, Chase was in the backseat with my brother and me. He loved to lay on my lap while I read my book and rubbed his head and belly. Chase always found a way to get off his collar and run. One night, he ran away and no one knew where he had gone. The whole family grabbed hot dogs, treats, anything we could find that had a scent that would get his attention. My mother found him six cottages down. The hotdog did the trick. Once, when I was in Grade 10, I came home from school feeling as low as I ever have. I let Chase out, then fed him. Then I lay down on the cold kitchen floor, crying so hard my tears burned my cracked lips. From the next room, I heard
Chase get up and walk into the kitchen and look at me. I just started talking to him. I told him everything I was feeling, just like an old friend. He licked my hand and stayed next to me with his head on my lap. I knew that if I didn’t love myself that day, he loved me. He lifted my sagging spirits and maybe saved my life. This fall, I got the news that made me drop to my knees and cry my eyes out once again. My mom was on the phone with the vet. We had taken Chase there a week before because he was having problems getting up and was walking much slower than usual. Chase had cancer. The vet said he would we would be lucky to get six months. But even that grim prognosis proved over-optimistic. Chase was diagnosed on Sept. 9. He died just over a month later, on the morning of Oct. 12. Thanksgiving Day. We got him to the place that was going to take care of him and
MAKAYLA VERBRUGGEN
Chase, a foxhound beagle, died on Thanksgiving Day after a short battle with cancer.
cremate him, and I kissed my dog goodbye. I touched his paw. It was so cold. Almost as cold as the kitchen floor the day I thought that I wanted to end my life. I had already told him everything I wanted him to know.
Chase was my childhood dog. We came together when we both were very young. He was my safe space, my best friend, my biggest fan. Thank you for all you have done for me, sweet angel. I will love you forever.
TALES FROM HUMBER
‘Desperate to hug my parents’: a family’s fight against the coronavirus Julia Alevato NEWS REPORTER
RIO DE JANEIRO — As a child, my favourite holiday was Easter. My family would gather, my mother would serve delicious dishes and an amazing dessert. But 2020 brought the worst Easter I ever had. That Sunday morning, my father showed symptoms of coronavirus. A few days later, he tested positive for COVID-19. Not long afterward, so did I. I had returned to Brazil in March from Humber College where I study journalism. My father was taking the pandemic seriously. At 58 with breathing problems, he was part of the high-risk demographic. So when I arrived home, I had to isolate for 14 days in my bedroom, leaving only to go to the bathroom. I was desperate to hug my parents. I hadn’t seen them in months. They were so near yet so far. But the thought of infecting
them ensured I obeyed the rules. After two long weeks, which I spent taking online classes and eating a lot, I showed no symptoms, so I was freed from quarantine. Life was back to normal. Or so I thought.
Things were worse Easter morning when he woke up with a fever and body ache. He spent the day in bed. For our traditional Easter lunch, there were only three of us sitting at the dining table.
My first symptoms were tiredness, sore throat, and headache. My whole body hurt. No position or pill made the pain go away. The next morning, I woke up feeling even worse The night before Easter, two days after my father had left the house to go to the bank, he began to feel ill. He felt cold and had a dry cough. We thought it was just the flu.
My young cousins weren’t there screaming. My grandpa wasn’t telling his funny stories. It was just my dad, my mom, and me, all of us sad and worried. For the next three days, my
Dad ached and was feverish. So he decided to take the coronavirus test. It was Wednesday morning when the doctor arrived at our house, wearing protective clothes that made him look like an astronaut. He put a long cotton swab inside my father’s nose and throat. I saw my father’s eyes tear up a bit. The next morning, he felt better. But I woke up feeling awful. My first symptoms were tiredness, sore throat, and headache. My whole body hurt. No position or pill made the pain go away. The next morning, I woke up feeling even worse and spent the day in bed. But when I started feeling better I convinced myself, again, that my father and I just had the flu. I started to question that conviction when I realized I couldn’t taste or smell anything. My father’s coronavirus test result arrived. “Positive,” he told us.
It was like the whole world stopped for a second. It was too late to isolate my father or me, so we decided to isolate ourselves from everyone outside of the house, even though my mom and my sister had no symptoms. We checked in daily with doctors. We had called Rio’s 24-hour phone line for medical advice when my father showed his symptoms. They regularly called our house to check up. A month later, my mother, my sister, and I took a blood test to see if we had been infected by COVID-19. We weren’t shocked that my test was positive. But we were surprised to learn my mother and my sister hadn’t been infected. My family was blessed to get through our COVID-19 experience and are doing fine. But Brazil is one of the globe’s coronavirus hot spots. And too many Brazilians were not as lucky.
10 - ARTS
HUMBER ET CETERA
NOV 27, 2020
Grad showcases Folklore fashion collection focused on sustainability Christian Collington ARTS REPORTER
Humber alumni Sana Sapra said it was a dream come true to have her fashion collection showcased at this year’s Fashion Art Toronto show. “I come from India, and I’ve always wanted to put my cultural aspects in every collection I do,” said Sapra, a graduate of the Fashion Management program. The 15th-anniversary edition of the longest-running fashion week in Toronto was held from Oct. 15 to 26. This year’s theme for artists
Rachel Jones, a makeup manager with Fashion Art Toronto, usually works with a team of 50 makeup artists. Due to the virtual show, Jones transitioned to online consultations with the models. “One of the main themes of Fashion Art Toronto is inclusivity,” Jones said. “I offered private oneon-one consultations, and they showed up with their products and tools, and they would do the look with me on camera.” For Jones, conducting those consultations virtually was a unique experience. Normally, there would be background
“It’s not only fashion that is beautiful, but it’s also fashion that is beautiful for the planet”
Rossie Kadiyska
FASHION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM COORDINATOR
was “We Are All in This Together,” which reflected on community, family, and inclusion. The 15th edition established diverse connections while nourishing talent from the past involving various artists around the world. Sapra designed her Folklore collection around the idea of sustainability and created it from waste that would have ended up in landfills. “There’s enough (of a) carbon footprint already, but nobody’s really doing anything to reduce that,” she said. Sapra’s emphasis on sustainability was inspired by what she learned at Humber. “It just helped me understand the market better, we had a lot of modules related to sustainability. It was about getting a different perspective on how we can think about change,” she said. Sapra decided to participate in the Fashion Art Toronto’s fashion show because her work was more than just fashion, it was being able to show different perspectives of art. “Being a cautious designer, I really wanted to think of something different and how a designer could make a change,” Sapra said. Fashion Art Toronto’s fashion week was virtual this year, a real change for everyone involved.
noise and many distractions, but meeting virtually provided none of that. “When I was meeting virtually, one-on-one, I really got to connect with the model,” she said. The announcement of Sapra’s work being showcased resulted in immense support from fellow alumni and faculty as well. Rossie Kadiyska, a Humber College professor and Fashion Management program coordinator, said it wasn’t a big surprise for her to hear the news of Sapra being featured in Fashion Art Toronto, always knowing she was destined for big things. “She’s so passionate about sustainability, I cannot just rave about the work that she’s done,” Kadiyska said. “It’s not only fashion that is beautiful, but it’s also fashion that is beautiful for the planet.” The program doesn’t deal with the design aspect of fashion but focuses more on the management side of the industry. Most students in the program, like Sapra, have a background in designing. “That knowledge is a very big asset to them, especially if they want to go more into the fashion industry here in Toronto,” Kadiyska said. Conducting the program
during the pandemic was challenging to start, but has proven advantageous, allowing participation in international competition as well as collaboration within Humber College. “The downside turned into an upside, we had more opportunities to collaborate across disciplines. There is a group of my students right now working with a group of web design students on a fashion tech project,” Kadiyska said. Sapra’s collection also pays homage to artisans in India, with the jewelry in the collection is authentic Indian handcraft. “Everything gets done by the artisans back home in India, it is also a small aspect of how we are contributing back to those artisans and try to uplift their handicrafts,” she said. Sapra plans to continue her career as a fashion designer by setting up her store in Toronto and Vancouver next year and participating in more fashion weeks.
TASH DAMJANOVIC
Above: Sana Sapras collection FOLKLORE was created by her motivation to create fashion that cuts down on industrial waste. Below: Sapras’ jewelry collection was handcrafted in India and created from waste that would have ended up in landfills.
NOV 27, 2020
HUMBER ET CETERA
ARTS - 11
Toronto dazzles in the visual effects industry Nicholas Seles ARTS REPORTER
While Toronto’s film production industry grows, the post-production side of the process has been quietly keeping up with the best Hollywood has to offer. Toronto’s lakeshore has become the hub of all things related to filmmaking. But what many don’t realize is the special effects in the final product are designed and rendered within the city. “Over the past decade, Canada’s role in the film industry has taken off. Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto have defined themselves as being the Canadian hotbeds for Hollywood,” said Fadi Sara, a layout department supervisor at Mr. X Inc. in Toronto. The company provides 3D animation, pre-visualization, visual effects compositing, and more for big-budget Hollywood films. “This is primarily due to the tax credits that are given to movie studios shooting here and using our resources at all stages of a movie production,” he said. Sara said the most exciting project he worked on was Hellboy, which was released in 2019. “It was my first time stepping into the role of being a lead, and the logistics of the footage
made for some very technical and artistic challenges that really pushed me to learn and grow as both an artist and a lead,” he said. In 2019, the visual effects (VFX) team at Mr. X Inc. was behind season five of Vikings. They were nominated and won for Best Visual Effects at the Canadian Screen Awards.Another studio that has taken over the city is Stereo D, even though they weren’t always the effects powerhouse they are now. Amy Madigan, a senior VFX co-ordinator, oversees her team’s needs and manages the delivery of finished products to clients. Recently, one of those clients included Lucasfilm, well known for work on the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises.“It was such an honour to work directly with Lucasfilm VFX supervisors,” Madigan said. “The most exciting project so far would have to be The Mandalorian. I moved over to the VFX department around a year ago, and this was the first major VFX project I oversaw.” The Disney+ original series garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for 15 Emmy awards, winning seven.Another Toronto studio, MARZ (Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies), has been hard at work on Marvel Studios’
FLICKR/ERIC PASINI
In the past decade, the film industry in Canada has taken off. Toronto now hosts a number of visual effects and animation studios.
upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision. “WandaVision has been a favourite of mine just because of the scope of what the visual effects entailed,” said Eric Galliani, a MARZ input-output (I.O.) coordinator. Galliani accepts video footage and VFX assets from the clients and creates a log for in-house art-
ists to access when needed. “The output part of it is preparing deliveries for the client,” he said.The hardest aspect of VFX work is the hours, and often, the pay. Since VFX artists are not unionized, it can be common for the artists to put weeks of work in and not get paid at all. “There are problems with overtime and not being paid, and that’s
something that’s been across the board for a long time,” Galliani said. As Toronto continues to grow as a filmmaking city, the future seems more advanced than one would think. “The trend now is they’re trying to combine more elements with VFX like game engines, A.I. and machine learning,” Galliani said.
Cineplex deal pushes underperforming films to digital Nicholas Seles ARTS REPORTER
Cineplex and Universal Studios agreed to a new deal to shorten theatrical release windows before sending films to videoon-demand. Universal Studios films can now go through theatrical distribution for as little as 17 days before the studio can decide to make it available at home through digital retailers. The agreement was announced on Nov. 20 following the rise of COVID-19 cases and widespread closures of movie theatres across central Ontario and Quebec.“The pandemic has given the industry and movie-lovers around the globe a new appreciation for the magic of the big screen experience,” Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob said in the company’s joint news release with Universal.
“We are pleased to work alongside like-minded partners such as Universal, a studio that respects the theatrical window and is committed to the sustainable longterm health of the theatrical ecosystem,” Jacob said. Movies that surpass US$50 million on opening weekend at the North American box office will play for the regular 31 days. Movies that fail to meet that threshold can be moved to home viewing and be available for $19.99. The move follows a similar deal Universal made with AMC theatres in July after the success of Trolls: World Tour being released to video on demand created tension between the studio and movie theatres. Shorter release windows increase the chance of films making less money, all while expediting the risk of piracy.It seemed a questionable step to a budding filmmaker like Dominik Woroszyl, who is
in his third year of Humber College’s film and television production program. “It almost feels like a transitional period,” Woroszyl said. “The moment I realized that the cinematic and theatrical experience was kind of dying was when I would get more excited thinking about the potential of my movies being distributed on streaming platforms rather than the big screen,” he said. Mark Pettit, who graduated from the Humber Film and TV Production program in 2014, believes the new deal is a very scary move. “That’s definitely going to further perpetuate the studios in their belief that they need a built-in audience, that they need a sure bet and to make a movie based on movies they made before,” Pettit said. “They need to maximize those 17 days. It has to be worth our while. It has to be an action movie or a Nolan film, or some-
thing that’s big and grandiose and ‘Avatar-esque,’” he said. Despite growing concern among younger filmmakers, Donna Langley, chair of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, was more optimistic about the partnership. “With audience fragmentation accelerating due to the rise in digital, streaming and cord-cutting, as well as the unprecedented issues our industry is facing right now, our relationship with exhibition had to evolve and adapt to the changing distribution landscape,” Langley said in the press release. “Giving consumers the flexibility to view content on their terms is more important than ever to help expand moviegoing, and Ellis and our partners at Cineplex allow us to increase these opportunities for our Canadian audience,” she said.Full details of the deal have not yet been disclosed.